Cavalry

France still possessed a large force of horsed cavalry in 1939. In France there were three big cavalry divisions, each of two brigades of two regiments, and one brigade of Spahis (Arab cavalry) from North Africa. In North Africa there were 7 regiments of Chasseurs d'Afrique (made up of French residents of North Africa and metropolitan Frenchmen), two regiments of Foreign Legion cavalry and 8 more regiments of Spahis. Finally there were three regiments of Spahis in the Levant. The Spahis, like the Tirailleur regiments, were designated by their place of origin.

It was the intention of the French high command to motorize part of this force. A start had been made in this, there were two brigades of motorized cavalry in France and one regiment had converted to armor in Morocco by 1939.

In late 1939 the three cavalry divisions were broken up and five brigades were used to form the 1st through 5th Divisions Legers de Cavalerie (DLC). These divisions were made up of one horsed cavalry brigade and a brigade of motorized infantry, an unfortunate combination in that it proved difficult for the two halves to work together in an effective manner. The 6th DLC, formed in Tunisia, was a pure cavalry formation.

Armor

Numerous books have been written on the subject of the deplorable misuse of France's excellent tank force. It comes down to the problem of doctrine, a rigid bias towards infantry support functions for the infantry tanks, and a bias towards reconnaissance for the cavalry tanks. The control of French armor was divided between the infantry and the cavalry. This resulted in a multiplicity of tank designs, each branch having its own tanks and its own doctrine for armored operations. Some of the armored cars, the Renault R-35, 39 and 40, the FMC, the "D" tanks and the Char "B" were infantry tanks.

The rest of the armored cars, the Hotchkiss tanks and the Somua were cavalry tanks. The result of this was low speed, small crew and lack of radio in most infantry tanks. With the cavalry, it meant a lack of armor and armament. French armor, although excellent technically and representing the very best in contemporary tank design, was not suited to mobile combat operations of the sort carried out by their German adversaries.

The French had around 2,300 modern tanks when the Germans struck in 1940, giving the French near numerical parity. Virtually all of these were superior to the PzKw I which still made up about 25% of the German tank strength at that time. Modern French light tanks (Renault 35 & 40, Hotchkiss 35 & 39 and FCM) ranged from 11 tons to 14 tons, armor from 34mm to 45mm and all mounted versions of the 37mm gun and a machine gun. In most of these, the gun was a short-barreled infantry gun, but in the later models (Renault 40 and Hotchkiss 39) it was the longer 37mm SA 38 with a higher muzzle velocity, more than a match for the PzKw II.

The French also had over 1,000 of the obsolete Renault F-17 in service, mostly in training and police duties, but some with the field army. The problem with all the French light tanks except the Hotchkiss models was their slow speed, around 13 km per hour. Even the Hotchkiss tanks were slower than German armor and few light tanks had radios, a fatal flaw. There were also a large number of so- called AMRs and AMCs not included in the total above, which were in effect tracked armored cars, most of them mounting only machine guns. The French also had a number of excellent Panhard 178 wheeled armored cars, better armed and armored than German equivalents.

French medium tanks included the Char D-1, D-2 and the Somua S-35. The later mark of the D-2 and the Somua were armed with the 47mm SA 35 anti-tank gun, a better gun than on any German tank.

The 'D' tanks were slow, like most of the light tanks, but the Somua was as fast its German adversaries. The Somua was probably the best tank in the world in 1940, but it suffered from two problems it had in common with all French tanks. First, it had a very limited operating range, and second its turret only had room for one crew member which slowed the rate of fire.

France's heavy tank was the Char "B", in many ways a better tank than the early marks of the PzKw IV the Germans had in 1940. Mounting a 75mm gun in the hull, a 47mm AT gun like the Somua and 2 machine-guns, it had 60mm of armor protecting its 31 ton bulk. Anytime German armor came up against Char Bs or Sornuas in even numbers they were in for a tough fight.

The most common armored formation in the French Army was the independent tank battalion, the bataillons de Chars de Combat (BCC). There were about 40 of these by May 1940, spread out from the Channel to Syria assigned at the corps level as infantry support. Administratively these were grouped in twos and threes into regiments, the TOE strength of the battalion being 45 to 63 tanks.

The other infantry tank unit was the armored division, the Division Cuirasse de Reserve (DCR). There were four of these by May of 1940, the fourth just in the process of formation. These were usually made up of demi-brigades of two tank battalions each, with a total of one (!) battalion of mechanized infantry in the division and a 24-gun artillery regiment. The lack of infantry and the weak artillery component made this unit brittle and vulnerable to combined arms attack.

The cavalry had its own philosophy of armored organization and had different units. The cavalry formed nine battalion-sized Groupes de Reconaissance, equipped with AMCs, AMRs, AMI)s and motorcycles. These were attached to the motorized infantry divisions (DIMs) or to various corps. Four of these were later converged into the Groupement de Reconaissance de la 7eme Armee, in effect an armored car brigade. The DLC has already been mentioned above.

The best French armored formations of the 1939-40 period were the Divisions Legere Mechanique (DLM), and they were the only units that actually operated as armored divisions in the 1940 campaign. Equipped with fast tanks (Somuas and H-39s), a reconnaissance regiment, a regiment of mechanized infantry, and a decent-sized artillery regiment, this unit had a very good infantry-to-armor balance for the period. Unfortunately for them, France had only managed to organize three of these divisions by May 1940, although another was forming.

The French Army in 1939

Introduction and Doctrine
Infantry
Cavalry and Armor
Artillery and Anti-Aircraft
Fortifications and Bibliography